A Boatload of Questions

[Jaypricemann 10]

I really like this game, but I have a boatload of questions that I've been dying to ask, mainly, issues.

1. I've installed GLX4, ACE2, SLX, and WarFX Particles. I get HUGE plumes of smoke whilst firing into the ground, and can anybody tell me the culprit?

2. The dying animations are a travesty. Can anybody tell me the origins of the dying animations based on the four mods above? Same goes for blood animations.

3. I know you guys are gonna jump down my throat regarding FADE, so I might as well tell you that I have a legit, store-bought copy of ARMAII, purchased a month or so ago from a legitimate chain. However, my accuracy is a goddamn sacrilege. I cannot hit a guy from ten or fifteen feet without expending ten or fifteen rounds.

4. The guys don't die fast enough, and don't respond to bullet hits in due time. I mean, I shoot a guy, and two seconds later, he dies. I also usually put a couple in the chest and they just fall down then get back up.

5. How do I get rid of that goofy smoke that shoots out like a ghost from the end of the barrel? That's NOT how real gun smoke is. Same goes for the horrendous muzzle flashes?

6. Reload animation - Garbage.

7. Gun animations - What the hell? The pistols almost never blow back, and there is a lot of ironing that needs to be done.

8. How do these goofy soldiers hold their guns? The hand is not even touching the barrel, and the wrist is turned at such an angle that makes it look like he's trying to show the guy to the right of him his left palm.

9. I'll mention my accuracy again.

10. Why when I shoot the ground in front of me, I get shot? Bullets will not ricochet off of the ground if they're going faster than a paintball.

11. Why is the blood spatter ridiculous. It goes nowhere except in a smokey-looking red plume outwords at MW2 FPSs. It's not difficult.

12. How do I rid myself of the dialogue?

13. How do I change my fire mode?

14. Is there any way to make the bullets go faster? I mean, they go like 600fps; that's akin to a fast pellet gun.

I know, I know. It sounds like I'm just sitting here ragging on the game. The game is fantastic. However, growing up with a military father, I'm a sucker for realism. ArmA II is almost there. If there are any mods that can satisfy or any values I can edit to rectify ANY of the problems above, please, please, help me. I'm frustrated because I cannot complete the first mission because of the accuracy and animation problems. I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Regards.

[Rayers12 19]

Fire mode is the F button

ACE has an option to disable voice in userconfig

Splatter....?

You're aiming and all that for accuracy?

Shooting the ground causes damage in SLX mod

Conclusion: You have an ungodly amount of mods.

I've brought up all of these concerns; many people will just go 'shut up stop bashing the game.'

[Jaypricemann 10]

Thanks for the quick reply. And yes, I'm aiming. Click then hold the right mouse button. I shoot and it's rare that it connects. I've disabled GL4 and SLX. And yes, splatter. You know, in most games, you shoot a guy, and it goes all over the wall behind them? Yeah, that.

[Rayers12 19]

Oh yeah, thats just the TEN YEAR old engine for you. In general, you really have to comprimise a lot of pretty when you play A2. What sort of game uses death animations anymore? I blame poor gun animations on BI. What exactly are they working so hard on that they don't have time for good looking gun animations, which is easily <70% of ArmA screen time?

However, whenever you get angry at the games, just take an SU34 and fly over Chernarus for a little while. You'll forget your troubles.

[canis lupus 20]

if you use the larger mods together like SLX and ACE they will create some problems..

I'm not having any problems with accuracy on my end.. your father should be able to tell you that hitting a moving target is a lot harder than you should think and I think arma is pretty realsitic on that part.. but your right they sometimes take a long time to fall down..

my advice keep an eye on the addons news sites sooner or later there will be addons or mods that has fixed those problems..

[Rayers12 19]

Recommend you play vanilla, right now.

[Jaypricemann 10]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is Vanilla and where do I get it?

[ProfTournesol 956]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is Vanilla and where do I get it?

Vanilla is the game without any mods.

[Jaypricemann 10]

Is there anything I can do about the bullet speed? It's extremely slow.

[Takko 10]

Oh yeah, thats just the TEN YEAR old engine for you. In general, you really have to comprimise a lot of pretty when you play A2. What sort of game uses death animations anymore?

This game. And it does its job really well.

PS: The last engine improvement is not 10 years old.

[ProfTournesol 956]

This game. And it does its job really well.

PS: The last engine improvement is not 10 years old.

Agreed. I'm fed up with those kinds of meaningless expressions/"urban" legend. French is one millenary old language and it's still in use, even if i couldn't understand a guy speaking middle age French nowadays.

[Jaypricemann 10]

Yeah, so, I know it seems like I'm sitting here bashing this game, but I really like it. I really wanna speed up these bullets though. It's ridiculous.

[Zipper5 74]

As far as I know no mods slow bullets down to a ridiculously slow speed. You must realize that this is a military simulator, therefore realistic ballistics apply. The bullets travel at real speeds and are affected by real conditions. Other FPS games (apart from BC2, perhaps) do not simulate this as the bullets have no ballistics. Bullets move how they should, more or less, in ArmA II.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Or could it be FADE?

[Zipper5 74]

Well, we are all presuming he does in fact have a legal copy of the game.

[Jaypricemann 10]

Will FADE affect it if I don't play with the DVD in?

[Taxman 10]

Recommend you play vanilla, right now.

I recommend you go straight to VBS 2 mind you the price for realism these days is a substantial amount more than the cost of Arma 2........

[Jaypricemann 10]

What kind of firepower would it take to mod the stuff I like in? Is modding straight forward, or does it require 3DSMax to change values and stuff in the engine?

[andromedagalaxe 10]

sounds like FADE got triggered somehow ...

[walker 0]

Hi Jaypricemann

It is probably not a good idea to load ACE with SLX.

Multiple large scale mods in use at the same time is a recipe for disaster. Both SLX and ACE change an awful lot of game functionality and so are going to be fighting over settings and expecting certain settings.

By all means play SLX or ACE but I would suggest you only play one of the major mods at at a time, you should still be able to mix in other smaller mods and addons such as islands, or vehicles, or avatars, clutter buildings etc. with either too.

On the matter of FADE.

Only since the 1.05 patch have you been able to play without the disk in. If your ran ArmA before installing the 1.05 patch without the disk via a NoDisc hack type affair that would trigger anti-piracy/anti-cheat protection and I think even if you patched a faded install it would remain faded but is is no biggie just reinstall.

ArmA's anti-piracy/anti-cheat protection can also be triggered by a reused key file. Eg buying second hand from some one who still has the the old key and you both appear on line at the same time or on the same LAN server, or buying a faked key, or say "Lending" the disk to a friend who then installs it and and they then as the latest install hold the electronic license rather than you.

If you bought second hand and suspect you may have a bought a reused key file contact Placebo via a PM and he can tell you how to proceed.

The other major cause of triggering ArmA's anti-piracy/anti-cheat protection is using cheat hacks or trainers.

Assuming you have not been pirating or such; then a simple reinstall of ArmA and patch to 1.05 plus the quick fix patch should solve your problems. :)

Kind Regards walker

Edited March 9, 2010 by walker
As pointed out I made a typo

[Jaypricemann 10]

Any more answers to my initial questions?

[Zipper5 74]

There are many different forms of modding for ArmA II. They are majorly divided into two categories of mission editing and addon/mod making. Mission making requires a certain amount of knowledge of the in-game editor as well as the scripting languages that ArmA II uses, and addon/mod making requires knowledge of the BIS modding tools (Oxygen, Visitor, etc.), other tools (3DMax, etc.), config work associated with ArmA II, and texture work.

Hopefully you're also using the -mod= shortcut parameter rather than just throwing everything into your mod folder, as well.

So modding ArmA II takes a lot of effort. You can accomplish simple things like changing bullet speeds, for example, through a config file. But other, more ambitious modding takes much more.

Oh, and walker made a typo in his post. Since 1.05 you do not need to have the DVD in it's drive.

[walker 0]

Hi Jaypricemann

As requested point by point:

I really like this game, but I have a boatload of questions that I've been dying to ask, mainly, issues.

1. I've installed GLX4, ACE2, SLX, and WarFX Particles. I get HUGE plumes of smoke whilst firing into the ground, and can anybody tell me the culprit?

Only run one major mod at a time. I only run ACE2 in the main. Running multiple mods which each alter core functionality eg. effects and say hand positions can have inherently unforeseeable consequences as they are all altering the same values in order to create an expected result and effect and then running other functionality off those expected values.

If you are running a major Mod such as ACE or SLX and additional smaller Mods say: troops or effects, ensure that they are compatible with the major mod; by checking in each of the Mods threads in the forum and by consulting with the Mod makers.

Your GLX4 Mod I have been unable to find any reference to it any where via Google or via a forum search of this forum or by a search of ArmA Info or ArmAHolic.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

2. The dying animations are a travesty. Can anybody tell me the origins of the dying animations based on the four mods above? Same goes for blood animations.

Impossible to tell as you are mixing mods, some effects will be on one mod others will be a hotch potch of them all, yet others will not run because you are changing the expected values of one mod, then overwriting them with another. So say a smoke effect in one uses values for multiple small billboards while the other uses one 3 or 4 large billboards to create the effect. If the Bill boards are the large ones but the script running them is that for the small billboards you end up with an effect multiple times the size needed.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

3. I know you guys are gonna jump down my throat regarding FADE, so I might as well tell you that I have a legit, store-bought copy of ARMAII, purchased a month or so ago from a legitimate chain. However, my accuracy is a goddamn sacrilege. I cannot hit a guy from ten or fifteen feet without expending ten or fifteen rounds.

If it is Not fade and I would not rule it out as we do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does, nor can we be clear on other factors, such as running with a NoDisk hack etc. ; then once again we must consider that the way Say SLX sets accuracy is piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

4. The guys don't die fast enough, and don't respond to bullet hits in due time. I mean, I shoot a guy, and two seconds later, he dies. I also usually put a couple in the chest and they just fall down then get back up.

We do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does. We must consider that the way Say SLX sets hit effects is piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

5. How do I get rid of that goofy smoke that shoots out like a ghost from the end of the barrel? That's NOT how real gun smoke is. Same goes for the horrendous muzzle flashes?

We do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does. We must consider that the way Say SLX sets smoke effects are piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

6. Reload animation - Garbage.

We do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does. We must consider that the way Say SLX sets the reload animation is say piling on the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

7. Gun animations - What the hell? The pistols almost never blow back, and there is a lot of ironing that needs to be done.

We do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does. We must consider that the way Say SLX gun animation are overwriting the way ACE does it. or Vice a Versa. onr indeed any of the other mods you are running, same applies to my previous answers.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

8. How do these goofy soldiers hold their guns? The hand is not even touching the barrel, and the wrist is turned at such an angle that makes it look like he's trying to show the guy to the right of him his left palm.

We do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does. We must consider that the way Say SLX puts the hands on a gun are say affecting the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

9. I'll mention my accuracy again.

If it is Not fade and I would not rule it out as we do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does, nor can we be clear on other factors, such as running with a NoDisk hack etc. ; then once again we must consider that the way Say SLX sets accuracy is piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

10. Why when I shoot the ground in front of me, I get shot? Bullets will not ricochet off of the ground if they're going faster than a paintball.

The speed of bullets has been tested in both vanilla ArmA II and major Mods such as ACE, I cannot speak for your GLX4 Mod as it is unknown to me and indeed, ArmAholic, ArmA Info, this forum and indeed Google. In general terms they speeds shown are correct. There are several threads discussing this matter in detail if you do a forum search.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

11. Why is the blood spatter ridiculous. It goes nowhere except in a smokey-looking red plume outwords at MW2 FPSs. It's not difficult.

Generaly ArmA II is a simulation not a holywood effects movie like MW2. If you think blood splater in MW2 is correct I think you wrong.

12. How do I rid myself of the dialogue?

Which Dialogue?

13. How do I change my fire mode?

Press the fire mode change button default is the [F] key and it is listed in the manual.

14. Is there any way to make the bullets go faster? I mean, they go like 600fps; that's akin to a fast pellet gun.

Once again. The speed of bullets has been tested in both vanilla ArmA II and major Mods such as ACE, I cannot speak for your GLX4 Mod as it is unknown to me and indeed, ArmAholic, ArmA Info, this forum and infact Google. In general terms the speeds shown in vanilla ArmA are correct. There are several threads discussing this matter in detail if you do a forum search.

The Real Virtuality Engine (RVE) has become the NATO "De-facto" simulation engine of choice as VBS2. It is even used to train snipers and special forces. Scientists and subject matter experts through out all NATO nations will have carried a Validation, Verification and Accreditation (VVA) process to see if RVE is capable of simulating bullet speed accurately enough to perform their simulation tasks.

While VBS will have had bullet speeds tweaked on a per weapon basis they are just using the same modding capabilities as are used by Mod teams like those in ACE.

What the NATO scientists will have is more accurate data on weapon capabilities than is permitted in public but on the publicly available Data both Vanilla ArmA and the major Mods are believed to accurate.

Ballistics is a complicated matter and is one I have some considerable experience of within the RVE environment. Within the constraints of real time computing and the complexities of ballistic calculations: the accuracy capability of RVE at the level of bullets out to the ~2000m range; where exponential calculation load makes large scale real time multiple ballistic object calculation increasingly expensive in terms of CPU load, is IMHO very good.

In any case there is not another engine that is capable of accurately simulating the all arms aspect of war enough to satisfy NATO scientists.

Getting back to your problem. We do not know what this GLX4 mod is or does. We must consider that the way Say SLX sets bullet speed is say piling on the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

I know, I know. It sounds like I'm just sitting here ragging on the game. The game is fantastic. However, growing up with a military father, I'm a sucker for realism. ArmA II is almost there. If there are any mods that can satisfy or any values I can edit to rectify ANY of the problems above, please, please, help me. I'm frustrated because I cannot complete the first mission because of the accuracy and animation problems. I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Regards.

We appreciate realism in this community and are all happy to discuss it, please contribute in the many threads on this so that you can help enrich this community.

I hope i have answered your questions to a reasonable degree of accuracy but I would once again reiterate:

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

I would suggest running say just the ACE mod.

Kind Regards walker

Edited March 9, 2010 by walker

[Jaypricemann 10]

Damn dude. I made one small typo and it's screwed you up! I'm really sorry. I meant to say "GL4".

[walker 0]

Hi Jaypricemann

Damn dude. I made one small typo and it's screwed you up! I'm really sorry. I meant to say "GL4".

As requested point by point and with your typo corrected: :)

I really like this game, but I have a boatload of questions that I've been dying to ask, mainly, issues.

1. I've installed GLX4 ( Sic should read GL4 ), ACE2, SLX, and WarFX Particles. I get HUGE plumes of smoke whilst firing into the ground, and can anybody tell me the culprit?

Only run one major mod at a time. I only run ACE2 in the main. Running multiple mods which each alter core functionality eg. effects and say hand positions can have inherently unforeseeable consequences as they are all altering the same values in order to create an expected result and effect and then running other functionality off those expected values.

If you are running a major Mod such as ACE or SLX and additional smaller Mods say: troops or effects, ensure that they are compatible with the major mod; by checking in each of the Mods threads in the forum and by consulting with the Mod makers.

Your GL4 Mod is an effects Mod the same as WarFX and will be along with all the other Mods competing and fighting over ArmA II functionality in unforeseeable and probably detrimental ways

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

2. The dying animations are a travesty. Can anybody tell me the origins of the dying animations based on the four mods above? Same goes for blood animations.

Impossible to tell as you are mixing mods, some effects will be on one mod others will be a hotchpotch of them all, yet others will not run because you are changing the expected values of one mod, then overwriting them with another. So say a smoke effect in one uses values for multiple small billboards while the other uses one 3 or 4 large billboards to create the effect. If the Bill boards are the large ones but the script running them is that for the small billboards you end up with an effect multiple times the size needed.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

3. I know you guys are gonna jump down my throat regarding FADE, so I might as well tell you that I have a legit, store-bought copy of ARMAII, purchased a month or so ago from a legitimate chain. However, my accuracy is a goddamn sacrilege. I cannot hit a guy from ten or fifteen feet without expending ten or fifteen rounds.

If it is Not fade and I would not rule it out as we not be clear on other factors, such as running with a NoDisk hack etc. ; then once again we must consider that the way Say SLX sets accuracy is piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

4. The guys don't die fast enough, and don't respond to bullet hits in due time. I mean, I shoot a guy, and two seconds later, he dies. I also usually put a couple in the chest and they just fall down then get back up.

We must consider that the way say SLX sets hit effects is piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

5. How do I get rid of that goofy smoke that shoots out like a ghost from the end of the barrel? That's NOT how real gun smoke is. Same goes for the horrendous muzzle flashes?

We must consider that the way Say GL4 sets smoke effects are piling up on say the way WarFX does it. We must consider that the way Say SLX sets smoke effects are piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

6. Reload animation - Garbage.

We must consider that the way Say SLX sets the reload animation is say piling on the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

7. Gun animations - What the hell? The pistols almost never blow back, and there is a lot of ironing that needs to be done.

We must consider that the way Say SLX gun animation are overwriting the way ACE does it or Vice Versa or indeed any of the other mods you are running, same applies to my previous answers.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

8. How do these goofy soldiers hold their guns? The hand is not even touching the barrel, and the wrist is turned at such an angle that makes it look like he's trying to show the guy to the right of him his left palm.

We must consider that the way Say SLX puts the hands on a gun are say affecting the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

9. I'll mention my accuracy again.

If it is Not fade and I would not rule it out, as we are not clear on other factors, such as running with a NoDisk hack etc. ; then once again we must consider that the way Say SLX sets accuracy is piling up on say the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

10. Why when I shoot the ground in front of me, I get shot? Bullets will not ricochet off of the ground if they're going faster than a paintball.

The speed of bullets has been tested in both vanilla ArmA II and major Mods such as ACE. In general terms the speeds shown are correct. There are several threads discussing this matter in detail if you do a forum search.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

11. Why is the blood spatter ridiculous. It goes nowhere except in a smokey-looking red plume outwords at MW2 FPSs. It's not difficult.

Generally ArmA II is a simulation not a hollywood effects movie like MW2. If you think blood splatter in MW2 is correct I think you wrong.

12. How do I rid myself of the dialogue?

Which Dialogue?

13. How do I change my fire mode?

Press the fire mode change button default is the [F] key and it is listed in the manual.

14. Is there any way to make the bullets go faster? I mean, they go like 600fps; that's akin to a fast pellet gun.

Once again. The speed of bullets has been tested in both vanilla ArmA II and major Mods such as ACE. In general terms the speeds shown in vanilla ArmA are correct. There are several threads discussing this matter in detail if you do a forum search.

The Real Virtuality Engine (RVE) has become the NATO "De-facto" simulation engine of choice as VBS2. It is even used to train snipers and special forces. Scientists and subject matter experts through out all NATO nations will have carried a Validation, Verification and Accreditation (VVA) process to see if RVE is capable of simulating bullet speed accurately enough to perform their simulation tasks.

While VBS will have had bullet speeds tweaked on a per weapon basis they are just using the same modding capabilities as are used by Mod teams like those in ACE.

What the NATO scientists will have is more accurate data on weapon capabilities than is permitted in public but on the publicly available Data both Vanilla ArmA and the major Mods are believed to accurate.

Ballistics is a complicated matter and is one I have some considerable experience of within the RVE environment. Within the constraints of real time computing and the complexities of ballistic calculations: the accuracy capability of RVE at the level of bullets out to the ~2000m range; where exponential calculation load makes large scale real time multiple ballistic object calculation increasingly expensive in terms of CPU load, is IMHO very good.

In any case there is not another engine that is capable of accurately simulating the all arms aspect of war enough to satisfy NATO scientists.

Getting back to your problem. We must consider that the way Say SLX sets bullet speed is say piling on the way ACE does it.

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

I know, I know. It sounds like I'm just sitting here ragging on the game. The game is fantastic. However, growing up with a military father, I'm a sucker for realism. ArmA II is almost there. If there are any mods that can satisfy or any values I can edit to rectify ANY of the problems above, please, please, help me. I'm frustrated because I cannot complete the first mission because of the accuracy and animation problems. I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Regards.

We appreciate realism in this community and are all happy to discuss it, please contribute in the many threads on this so that you can help enrich this community.

I hope i have answered your questions to a reasonable degree of accuracy but I would once again reiterate:

The Moral of this tale is: Only run one major mod at a time.

I would suggest running say just the ACE mod.

Kind Regards walker

Edited March 9, 2010 by walker